This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew is planning a January swoop for Manchester City defender Micah Richards.

Pardew has admitted that Newcastle need to buy new players when the transfer market reopens, targeting British signings specifically.

And the first of those could be City right-back Richards who is struggling to break into Manuel Pellegrini's team.

Reports suggest Pardew wants Richards to provide competition for Frenchman Mathieu Debuchy, although rivals such as Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham are also monitoring his position at the Etihad.

"One issue is that we're going to need to look at British players quickly because we're starting to get filled up with perhaps too many foreign players," said Pardew.

"I think we need to strengthen the team and maybe in January as well."

Richards has yet to play in the Premier League for City so far this season and may need to move away to reignite his stuttering career.

The 25-year-old will need to be playing regular first-team football to give him a chance of breaking into Roy Hodgson's England squad should they qualify for next summer's World Cup with victory against Poland tomorrow night.

Pellegrini currently favours Argentine international Pablo Zabaleta at right-back and may sanction a New Year departure for Richards whose current contract expires in 2015.